Wednesday, December 13, 2006

OH MY GOSH, IT'S GOING TO GET WORSE !

First of all I was saddened to hear that Peter Boyle, the actor that played the father on "Everybody Loves Raymond" passed away at the young age of 71. I always loved that show and still enjoy the reruns. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

Today was a very interesting day weather wise. I didn't have any trouble getting to work but I made it just in the nick of time. Within 10 minutes after I got into the building, it just poured rain and with the wind blowing, the rain was sideways and upside down. (Well, not upside down but it was awful) It was pounding so hard on the big windows of our office, we actually opened up the mini blinds so we could see it coming down. I looked out once, later in the morning and the sun was shining for about 10 minutes and then it proceeded to rain and blow the rest of the day. Plus the temperature has dropped from a mild 50 degrees this morning to just under 40 degrees this evening. There were several scary stories on the news tonight about what happened as a result of the wind today. Several trees fell over on houses (no one was hurt, however) and the scariest...a big Douglas Fir tree fell across a school bus full of little kids up near Auburn, today. Thankfully none of the kids or the driver were hurt. The driver called it a real miracle. So what's next? Well, here's my latest email from KOMO TV in Seattle.

" Dear Linda,

If today or Thursday happens to be your garbage day, you might want to check with your neighbors -- or perhaps the next county over -- to find where you trash can went.

After gusts around the greater Seattle area nearing 50 mph today, an even stronger storm is on the way for Thursday evening and Friday. Gusts could generally be around 65 mph, but there are some spots that could see over hurricane-force winds. More on that below.

In the short term, we'll continue to see winds gusting as high as 50 mph early (Boeing Field just had a 48 mph gust at 4 p.m.) and then winds will slowly taper off overnight. Otherwise, scattered showers with lows near 40.

Thursdaybegins with scattered showers, and then rain increases during the afternoon as the storm moves in.

A HIGH WIND WATCH is in effect for all of western Washington for Thursday evening through Friday morning.

The forecasting models have been surprisingly consistent in both the general strength and track of this new storm. There are a few minor differences, but every model we have is on the same page, and any of the scenarios painted now lead to strong wind.

What they're showing is a very deep area of low pressure (roughly 28.64" for central pressure) that is forecast form and move across the northwestern tip of Washington and/or southern Vancouver Island around Thursday evening. As long as the track is somewhere in that vicinity and passes to the north of Seattle, but not too far north, that classic recipe for a strong windstorm in Western Washington, so this really bears watching.

The first place to get the wind will be the coast and Northwest Interior, which usually gets a "pre-storm" southeast wind. The wind will pick up around midday and early afternoon and gust to around 45-50 mph.

Once the storm approaches and passes the coast in the late evening, winds will shift to the southwest and pick up in all areas. Timing for the winds to increase in the Seattle area will be somewhere between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. (models are still a little uncertain on the storm's exact arrival.)

Winds will pick up quickly and blow sustained 40 mph gusting as high as 65 mph through the night and into Friday morning. This is for everyone. Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham, Olympia, foothills, south, west, east, north -- everywhere.

A third wrinkle comes as the storm passes to the east of the I-5 corridor. A very strong push of west wind is expected in the storm's wake for the coast and Strait of Juan de Fuca.

It is possible to see winds along the coast, northern Olympic Peninsula (Port Angeles, Sequim, Pt. Townsend) and Whidbey Island of 40-60 mph with gusts as high as 80 mph -- maybe even a touch higher in strong gusts. So people in these areas need to really be cautious and take precautions now. (Whidbey Island would be at the end of that rush of wind coming down the Strait).

The rain and winds will stick around through Friday morning, then begin to taper off through the day, leaving scattered showers in the wake. Some of those showers could be pretty heavy though, and would not be surprised to see more thunderstorms and even some hail. Temperatures will cool through the day to the mid 40s as cooler air moves in behind the front.

We calm down to just cool showers for Saturday and they drier weather for Sunday and Monday. Hopefully by then, you'll have found your garbage can...or at least you'll have a late addition to your Christmas list :)

6 comments:

Thanks for the comments. I forgot about your birthday party, I would love to see the video. The comments you made were just what I wanted to hear. Remember when everything was so exciting but so simple and we apprecitated it all so much.I'm so thanksful I have you to share this with. By the way my power went out this morning before I had to get ready for work. Well Floyd is out of town visiting his mother. The silly thing is the first thing I thought of is I can't get out of the garage because I have an electric door opener now, isn't that silly. Well I figured it out but who would have ever thought that would be a problem. Thanks goodness I have tomorrow off.Joni

Sad news about Peter Boyle ~ I like that programme ~ Glad you got into work before the downfall ~ Thank goodness those school children were all safe ~ it must have been very frightening for them all ~ Don't like the sound of your weather forecast so keep safe and drive carefully ~ Ally

I'm glad you got into work before the rains hit. It seems relentless there at the moment. I hope it stops for you soon, I'm glad the kids in the bus were OK, it must have been frightening though. Jeannette xx http://beta.journals.aol.co.uk/jlocorriere05/Welcometomytravels/

About Me

I've lived in beautiful western Washington all my life. I'm divorced and the mother of a married son (Jim)and a married daughter (Julie). Julie and her husband are the parents of my two grandchildren Harrison age 21 and Meghanne age 20. I retired in February 2007 from a large health system and love to travel locally and up and down the west coast with my friend Bob. We've also been on several cruises & loved the experience. I love to buy & sell on eBay and after being an Avon Rep since 1976, I retired from Avon in May of 2009.